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EDWARDSVILLE - Top seed Ollie Okonkwo of Iowa City, Ia., will play St. Louisan Gus Tettamble for the men's open singles crown and wild card berth into the Edwardsville Futures tournament, presented by the EGHM Foundation, while Aidan William of West Lafayette, Ind., and Rahulkinet Kolakanchi of Plano, Tex., advanced to the men's open doubles final, which also carries a wild card entry into the Futures, on day two of the Edwardsville Open tennis tournament, presented by The Opel Bash Group, Saturday at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.
The tournament begins the countdown toward the 14th edition of the St. Louis area's only professional tennis tournament, scheduled for July 28-Aug. 3 this year at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.
In the quarterfinals of the men's open singles, Okonkwo won over Jason Daly of Laurel, Md. 8-4, while Jake Cohen of Little Silver, N.J. defeated Jake Trondson of Nashville 8-5. In the lower half of the bracket, Tettamble got past Kolakanchi 9-7 and Blake Strode of St. Louis stopped Thomas Griese of O'Fallon, Mo. 8-3. In the semifinal matches, Okonkwo defeated Cohen 8-3, while Strode was forced to retire due to injury, giving the match to Tettamble.
In the opening round of the men's 4.0 18-and-over singles, Jan-Michael Jansen won over Lucas Hutton 8-2, while Jeff Grimm won over Yangdong Pan 8-1. Davis Dickey defeated Milo Kathriner 8-1, while Timothy Flatt took an 8-1 win over Anthony Trent. Alex Boker got past Tim Curran 8-3, while Matthew Suddarth won over Sean Bracken, also by 8-3. Anthony Zollo took an 8-5 win over Blake Manley, and Ryan Cochran defeated Timmy Curran 8-2.
In the quarterfinals of the draw, Jansen defeated Grimm 8-3, Flatt took a 9-7 win over Dickey, Suddarth defeated Boker 8-3, and Cochran advanced with an 8-1 win over Zollo.
In the quarterfinals of the women's open singles, in an all-Edwardsville match, top seed Chloe Koons won over Dia Kannan 8-1, while Shannon Gordon-Carney of Elsah advanced when Shree Nidhi Sikkal Kumar of Chesterfield, Mo. was forced to withdraw due to injury. Grace Brown of St. Louis defeated Katie Woods of Edwardsville 8-4, and second seed Paige Duncan of Denham Springs, La., won over Patricia Mercade Gonzalez of St. Peters, Mo. 8-1. The results of the semifinals were not available.
In the men's open doubles quarterfinals, Okonkwo and Trondson advanced when Markos Prentits of Chesterfield, Mo., and Jack Quilty of St. Louis were forced to withdraw, due to injury, while Cohen and Daly won over Zach Trimpe and Seth Lipe, both of Edwardsville, 8-4. Jesse Hattrup of Edwardsville and Adam Koon of McCordsville, Ind., won over Kai Gustafson of St. Charles, Mo. and Alex Meyer of Lake St. Louis, Mo. 8-1, and William and Konakanchi defeated Devan and Dylan Faulkenberg of Troy 8-2.
In the second semifinal match, William and Konakanchi won over Hattrup and Koon 6-4, 6-3, while the first semifinal result was not available.
In the semifinals of the men's 4.0 18-and-over doubles, Zollo and Evan Kroeker won over Lucas Brant and Manley 8-1, while Eric Armbrecht and Ryan Caffee won over Hutton and Kathriner 8-4. In the final, Armbrecht and Caffe won the championship over Zoller and Kroeker 8-5.
In the women's open doubles quarterfinals, the Edwardsville team of Alyssa Wise and Hannah Colbert defeated Kyia and Khloe Phillips of Swansea 8-2, while Kannan and Albina Selimi of Glen Carbon got past Mercade Gonzalez and Grace Brown of St. Louis 8-6. In the semifinals, top seeds Duncan and Koons won over Wise and Colbert 6-2, 6-2, and second seeds Woods and Ava Sock of St. Louis eliminated Kannan and Selimi 7-5, 0-6, 10-7.
The final day of the tournament is set to begin at 9 a.m. at the Edwardsville Tennis Center, with the finals of both the men's and women's open singles, plus all other championship matches.
Play Begins In Edwardsville Open Tennis Tournament, Countdown Begins For Edwardsville Futures Later This Summer
The countdown to the 14th annual Edwardsville Futures tennis tournament, presented by the EGHM Foundation, began in earnest on Friday with the start of the Edwardsville Open tournament, presented by the Opel Bash Group, at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.
Play began in the open singles for men and women, with the winner of the men's final receiving a wild card entry into the main draw for the Futures, which is set for July 29-Aug. 3 at the Edwardsville Tennis Center, while the open doubles winners also receive a wild card into the doubles drew.
In the first round of the men's open singles, top seed Ollie Okonkwo of Iowa City, Ia., won over Edwardsville's Jesse Hattrup 8-0, Jason Daly of Laurel, Md. won over Aiden William of West Lafayette, Ind. 8-2, it was Jake Trondson of Nashville winning over Markos Prentits of Chesterfield, Mo. 8-4, Jake Cohen of Little Silver, N.J. taking an 8-5 win over Coleman Merce of Westport, Conn., Gus Tettamble of St. Louis won over Pavan Uppu of Pickerington, Ohio 8-2, Rahulkent Konakanchi of Plano, Tex. took an 8-3 win over Graham Faris of Leawood, Kan., Thomas Griese of O'Fallon, Mo. won over Erik Weller of Edwardsville 9-7, and second seed Blake Strode of St. Louis won over Adam Koon of McCordsville, Ind. 8-4.
In the women's open singles, Dia Kannan of Edwardsville took an 8-3 win over Katelyn Schmedke of St. Louis, while Shree Nidhi Sikkal Kumar of Chesterfield won over Josie Wpjokiewicz of Highland 8-3, and Patricia Mercade Gonzalez of St. Peters, Mo. won over Albina Selmi of Glen Carbon 9-7.
